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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 2024.

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thursday, October 06, 2016

CD Review: Tom Harrison - Unfolding in Tempo

Tom Harrison (alto); Cleveland Watkiss (voice); Robert Mitchell (pno); Daniel Casimer (bs); David Lyttle (dms).
(Review by Lance).
It might be said that there is little left to say, musically, about the works of Duke Ellington other than reminiscing in tempo. Just about every aspect of the great man's work has been taken apart and reassembled by the good, the bad and the ugly. (Archie Shepp's In a Sentimental Mood being one of the uglier ones.). Fortunately, Harrison manages to negate the latter two aspects in producing his own Ducal Direction. If anything, it relates to what a Mingus plays Ellington might have sounded like - almost!
The idea of using Watkiss' voice adds to the depth of field - alto and voice blend well together, On the Sy Oliver number, The Minor Goes a Muggin' originally recorded by Duke with trombonist Tommy Dorsey's band, Watkiss scats like Cab Calloway and Harrison stretches out drawing the approval of the audience at Pizza Express before making way for Robert Mitchell to do some muggin' of his own.
Take the A Train - Watkiss reminds us, with an out and out scat solo that ticks all the boxes, that there are other first class male jazz singers around apart from Cullen, Elling and Porter.
Listen to Harrison blow - he cuts it! Which, to those of us who'd heard him at last week's Jazz Café gig with the David Lyttle Trio, is old news! Ditto David Lyttle!
Casimer walks Things Ain't etc. in, Watkiss sings and Harrison lopes around over Casimer's bass who, after Harrison has shot down a lot of better-known UK sax players, has his moment too - he takes it. Watkiss returns to bring things back to what they used to be - eventually!
Too many great moments to list them all, suffice to say it's an alternative take on the maestro's music but one I'd like to think that he'd have Loved Madly!
Take the A Train; Things Ain't What They Used to be; The Minor Goes a Muggin'; My Little Brown Book; Solitude; The Intimacy of the Blues; Warm Valley.
The all live recordings were recorded earlier this year at Soho's Pizza Express and the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
One for the shortlist.
Available October 14 on Lyle Records.
Lance.
Bonus track - Chelsea Bridge.

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